Northern Tramway on Tyres: Manchester’s New Guided Busway Connects Passengers to Work and Leisure

The new Greater Manchester Guided Busway is due to be launched this week, bringing more innovative travel technology into the north of England.

The 14 mile route will connect Leigh/Atherton in Wigan Borough with Salford and Manchester, reducing congested traffic travel times from 1hr 30 minutes to 50 minutes. 4.5 miles of the journey are on custom-built busway – a concrete channel separated from traffic.

A fleet of twenty new First Greater Manchester hybrid buses, dubbed ‘Vantage’, have been purpose-built for the busway. These high-specification, low-emission buses with guide wheels are equipped with leather seating, tables upstairs, free Icomera Passenger Wi-Fi, USB charging points, visual stop announcements and climate control.

Icomera Wi-Fi is frequently a feature of pioneering innovative public transport infrastructure and vehicles. The Greater Manchester Guided Busway follows the opening of the popular Cambridgeshire Guided Busway – the world’s longest guided busway, also equipped with Icomera Wi-Fi.

The launch of the guided busway is part of the wider rollout of Transport for Greater Manchester’s public transport improvements, which included the provision of Icomera Wi-Fi on 96 Metrolink trams last year, and 20 Metroshuttle buses.